29/10/2012

South America Update. Week 1

Ron and I arrived into Santiago International airport last Monday, thrashed our way through the mass of taxi hawkers at the main

door, and caught a bus into Santiago. From there it was another bus to Valparaiso, about 120 klm away on the coast. Then on to our accommodation at Villa Kunterbunt, located in the hills of the Western suburbs.

Valparaiso is classed as a World Heritage Site, with the Port city literally plastered all over the steep hillsides surrounding the Port.

Streets are steep, narrow and often cobbled, crowded with buses – taxis and witless tourists, such as ourselves. The bus and taxi services are to be envied by any metropolitan centre, Waiting time for the correct bus is seconds.

Tuesday was spent getting our bearings and exploring Valparaiso, riding the ascensors (cable cars) and walking for miles looking at the historical sites.

 And what of our bikes? Ship had arrived Sunday .. offloaded by Monday … bikes to be available Wed. Not quite. We had a few more days to spend in Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar, just up the coast. The rest of the time was spent plotting routes and chilling out at the Villa, a 3 storey wooden structure. 4 metre studs and the whole joint in constant need of maintenance. Cheap accommodation.

The owners Martina and Enzo Tesser, were assisting us with the customs/shipping company hassles.

Friday…..Yeehaa we get our bikes by 1200 and start packing.

Saturday morning we are off heading down the coast for Pichilemu. Nice ride through forest/farms with occasional views of the sea. After one or two seaside villages we head back inland to avoid the hassles arriving a Pichilemu late in the afternoon. No camping area or accommodation to be found. A local resident came to our assistance and found us a flat in Punta Lobos a few klm down coast. Fantastic view of the surf beach and quiet surroundings.

Sunday.

Hard to leave such a nice spot but we are already behind so continue south. Start getting onto sandy/gravel roads passing through forests, farms and vineyards. Along one tidal area there were a lot of ponds which we think are used to farm salt in summer. Hit our first river crossing which looked fine but the soft sand river bottom made it hit or miss on whether you got through. The local farmer must wait for people to get stuck. He has a tractor parked just out of site!

So the day was spent riding South through Hualane, Lora, Batuco, where we ended up in the middle of the Sunday Market, then on to Talca. Then onto Ruta 5 to belt our way down to Los Angeles for the night.

On the way into Talca we pulled into a picnic area to check the route through the city. The bikes pulled quite a bit of attention which included a couple of police on Green Honda 250’s. They were over like a shot. Turned out to be good sorts and were determined to take us to dinner and offered beds in their homes if we wanted. Had to decline unfortunately. By the time we had finished chatting there were 6 of them. One spoke English and when they heard where we were heading they gave a full police escort across the city and aimed us at Ruta 5!  Fantastic service! 

Los Angeles. We stayed at the Hotel Antilen, hostel type accommodation, almost in the city centre for virtually nothing which also included breakfast.

Monday. 

Got away late from Los Angeles, heading up the Rio Bio Bio valley. You could be driving up any New Zealand West Coast valley except on a grander scale. Great scenic ride with one false turn up an access road to a new dam project which appears to be set to flood a large portion of the valley. We got turned away from the entrance, but if my Spanish is correct, it was something to do with not being able to carry a 15 ton boulder. We turned around, and followed a new road up the valley. Unfortunately the loop we had planned was foiled by the dam project so had to retrace our route out of the valley. Got back on Ruta 5 and raced for Villarrica, in the Lakes District. Villarrica is situated on a large lake with a replica of Mount Egmont in the background.

Here we stop for a day or two.

Curious things you see traveling!

Wherever we go if you have a bicycle, wheel barrow, cart / pram you must carry one or two bags of potatoes??? Ruta 5 - man with barrow + bag of spuds making a dash across the traffic. 20 klm later a lady + barrow off-loading bag of spuds between road barriers to retrieve barrow. I’m thinking there has to be more to it than just the humble spud!! I would really like to tackle one of these people just to empty the bag and see what else is in there!!

Bye for now. Gordon